My Real Favorite Movies #6

I love, love, love Galaxy Quest!!!  This is one of the movies that my parents and I watch together on a regular basis.  I have honestly seen it probably over a dozen times.  I actually saw it in the theater with two of my friends when I was in high school.  I was laughing the whole time and they sat there quietly staring at me like I was crazy.  When it was over I said, “Man, that movie was awesome!”  They looked at me weird and said, “Whatever, next time we get to pick the movie.”

So, obviously some people just don’t get it.  It might be a much funnier movie if you have a little bit of background on Star Trek or any kind of sci-fi show with an obsessive fan base.  I have a Dad who is a big trekkie, so I totally get all of the in jokes in the movie.

The movie is about a group of actors from the sci-fi tv show Galaxy Quest.  The show went off the air years ago and now they make money doing conventions for crazy fans (I’m sorry, passionate fans).  Then one day some real aliens come, thinking the show is real and these people can help them.  The aliens take them to their ship to help them defeat the evil Sarris.

First of all, the cast is tremendous.  Tim Allen is perfect as the egotistical Commander.  I don’t understand why he isn’t a bigger movie star.  He is so great in this movie and in the Toy Story movies.  Maybe he is only good when playing a spaceman??

I also love Sigourney Weaver as the hot girl on the show.  She so often plays the bad-ass tough chick that it is great to see her portraying a beautiful woman (cuz let’s face it, she’s gorgeous).

Also, Alan Rickman is hilarious as the “alien” on board the ship.  He wears that silly headpiece throughout the entire movie, even when they show him in his house!!

But my favorite character has to be played by Tony Shaloub, he is just utterly perfect as the perpetually stoned-looking technical guy.

Here is the trailer so you can get a feel of how funny it is.

Oh, just watching the trailer makes me chuckle.  If you need more convincing that the movie is great, here is one of my favorite scenes:

Here are some of my favorite lines, that probably won’t seem funny taken out of context, but I am adding them anyway:

“Oh my gosh, I’m doing it!  I’m repeating the darn computer!”

“Alex, where are you going?”
“To see if there’s a pub.”

“Don’t open that!  It’s an alien planet!  Is there air?  You don’t know!”
“It seems okay.”

“Let’s get out of here before one of these things kills Guy.”

“Construct a weapon.  Look around you, can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?”

Tee hee hee!

While watching the movie, make sure you look for Justin Long as a nerdy kid and Rainn Wilson as one of the aliens.

Jen

My Real Favorite Movies #5

I LOVE Disney movies!  And I think I mentioned before that I do love all of the real Disney classics like the Princess movies (Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, etc.) but one of my real favorites that I watch over and over again is The Great Mouse Detective (sometimes called The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective).

Aren't these old school movie posters great??

This movie is often forgotten because it came out a few years before The Little Mermaid came on the scene and blew everyone away.  I ADORE this movie!!!!  I remember seeing it in the theater when I was very small when I was visiting my cousins in New Jersey.  I specifically remember it even though I was only five because I forced my cousin to call the movie theater to ask if a My Little Pony movie was playing (man, I was a stubborn child).  Of course, there was not, so we went to see this instead.  I was terrified during the entire movie.

It is actually really different from most Disney films.  It is very dark, very dry, and very British.  No wonder it did not do very well.  I really don’t think it is a kid’s movie at all.  It is based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, with Basil of Baker Street as the best mouse detective in London.  Basil is an absolute perfect interpretation of Sherlock.  He is cold, calculating, and just plain rude most of the time.  But that is because his mind is always focused on the case!

Here is the first scene of Basil in the movie.  Pitch-perfect imitation of Mr. Holmes.

The plot of the movie is pretty basic.  Toy maker gets kidnapped by evil genius rat Professor Ratigan in order to take over Mousedom.  The toy maker’s daughter asks Basil for help.  Along the way there are lots of mishaps and capers and Basil and friends save the day.

This movie is just so awesome!  I adore little Olivia.  She is so cute!!!  Most little kid characters in movies (especially animated movies) annoy me, but Olivia is too cute!  I also really love just how British everything is.  I mean the final battle takes place on Big Ben for goodness sakes!

Now, most of you probably have never seen this movie.  Well, you are in luck because it had disappeared for a long while, but it comes out on DVD today!!!!  That means you can Netflix it or buy it or check it out from your library!  But do it fast because I wouldn’t be surprised if it was only out for a short while.  It is not important enough to get the Platinum treatment, just some ridiculous nonsense “Mystery in the Mist Edition.”  Ugh.  Oh well, I am buying it because my old VHS tape is worn out.

To end with, I present one of the best things I have ever seen.  While trying to find a trailer for the movie, I came across this brilliant mash-up of The Great Mouse Detective and the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  Enjoy, because it will knock your socks off.

Jen

P.S.  Also, you should go to the IMDB trivia page after seeing the movie because there are so many cool tidbits about little inside Sherlock Holmes things in the movie.

My Real Favorite Movies #4

I realize a lot of my taste in movies has been inherited from my parents.  I get my love of fantasy and screwball comedies from my dad and my love of musicals and romantic comedies from my mom.  Well, one of the movies that I have seen too many times to count (so many times that I could practically recite the whole thing to you) is The Harvey Girls.

The Harvey Girls is one of my mom’s favorite movies of all time, and it is one that we watch together on a regular basis.  But that just wasn’t enough for me because sometimes I just feel the need to watch it when I’m not with her, so I had to get my own copy.

The Harvey Girls is a big time production musical starring the wonderful and amazing Judy Garland.  It is about a group of women who worked in a Harvey House restaurant in the southwest in the 1800s (I should probably be a lot more precise about the year, but I am too lazy to look it up, and too much of a failed history major to be able to give a reasonable guess).  They move into a town and get in the way of the local saloon and the girls who work there.

Now there are a lot of awesome things about this movie….

THE MUSIC!!!  All of the songs are great (except for maybe “Great Big World…..I’ve never been fond of that one).  I LOVE  “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe.”  I used to think that they were speaking some kind of foreign language every time they got to the chorus…..I had no idea they were listing off town names.  Oh, and the song mentions Dubuque, Iowa, which is pretty awesome!

THE DANCING!!!  Lots of fun dancing, including a lovely demonstration of how to do the waltz.  I think that we need to have more town dances like the party in the movie…..I would totally go to those all the time.

THE COSTUMES!!!  Call me a giant nerd, but I adore the dresses in this movie.  It is pretty hilarious how the Harvey Girls have on all of these very wholesome dresses with pretty floral patterns and puffy sleeves, but the saloon girls have sequined dresses with shiny fabric and feathers.  Heehee…..when I was a girl I totally wanted to dress like the saloon girls…..now I have matured into a dowdy old lady and prefer the Harvey Girls more demure ensembles.

Mrs. Fletcher, I Presume?

ANGELA LANSBURY!!!!!  The best part about this whole movie is that Angela Lansbury (as in Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast and J.B. Fletcher from Murder She Wrote) plays the head bad girl Em.  She pouts around the saloon and bullies poor little Judy Garland’s character.  And the greatest thing is that she was only 19 when she made this movie!!!  AAAAACCCKKK!  That means she was almost 10 years younger than I am now!  It’s funny because she looks like she is 30, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.  She just looks very mature and grown up even though she was still a teenager.

JOHN HODIAK!!!!  John Hodiak of course plays Judy Garland’s love interest.  I love his character in the film because he does not sing at all.  There is all this singing and dancing going on around him and he just plays the manly man and doesn’t get mixed up in it.  I kind of like that.  (Not that singing isn’t manly, but it just didn’t fit his character.)  Plus, he is the kind of guy that when you first see him you’re like, “Really??  This is the main guy??  He’s kind of ugly……no wait a minute…..there’s something about him……oh, I think I love him…..whoops, how did that happen?”

A HUGE GIRL FIGHT IN A BAR!!!!  The movie manages to do the impossible and have a fight where nobody actually hits each other.  There is a huge Harvey Girls vs. Saloon Girls battle royale where nobody seems to actually hit anybody, but there is lots of falling off tables and someone literally swings from the ceiling.

JUDY GARLAND HOLDS THE BAR AT GUNPOINT!!!!  This is my favorite scene in the movie…..Judy does a fantastic job of playing a woman who has absolutely no idea what to do with a gun (let alone two).

Be forewarned that even though this movie is awesome, it will not appeal to everyone.  It is a muscial.  From the forties.  If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, I would probably avoid it.  But I love to have it on in the background and sing along to the songs.  It takes me back to my childhood and makes me think of my mom, which is also cool.

Here is a little video about the movie to give you a feel for what it is like.  It’s a little blurry, but you get the picture.  (I was going to post the trailer, but it is so hideously bad that I don’t want anyone to see it without giving the movie a chance.)

Jen

P.S.  Interesting Tidbit….I love Virginia O’Brien’s character of Alma.  She is a pretty important part of the movie and she even gets her own solo…..but then she disappears and isn’t in the second half at all.  Apparently she got pregnant and so they just cut her out of the movie……aaaahhhh Hollywood politics of the 40s.

Poor Knocked Up Alma (on the left)

My REAL Favorite Movies #4

I am a huge fan of almost every Disney movie.  I adore all of the classics like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid.  But the Disney animated movie that I have watched more than all the others has to be Robin Hood.  I ADORE Robin Hood.

A lot of movie snobs (like my dad) rip on Robin Hood because it is one of Disney’s laziest movies.  There are multiple scenes that are borrowed from other movies (the animated action is exactly the same as a sequence in a previous movie) and even some that are repeated within the movie itself.  It is also just supposed to be an all around not great movie.  Even Disney seems to acknowledge it as a “lesser” film because it didn’t even get a Platinum edition treatment…..just a lame Most Wanted Edition.

But I don’t care what any of those people say, because this movie is awesome!!!  I love all of the kid characters in the movie.  The little rabbit family and their friend Toby the turtle.  The littlest girl rabbit is sooooo cute.  She has some of the best lines in the whole movie!  I love it when Robin Hood brings her brother a gift and she says, “come again…….on my birthday.”  Or when someone asks Robin Hood if he’s gonna have any kids and she says “my momma gots a lotta kids.”  Hahahaahaaaaa!  Okay, they don’t sound so funny just typed out like that, but trust me, they are hilarious.

Maid Marian and Lady Cluck

I also really like Maid Marian.  She is so sweet and has the coolest outfit!  I totally want to wear her hat/veil/blanket thing that she wears all the time.  It looks like so much fun.

I also love the music in the movie (not the sappy love song in the middle though….yuck).  Roger Miller plays the rooster minstrel who tells the story and I love the songs that he sings.  I also really like the “Phony King of England” song.  It’s really different from music in other Disney movies, but I think that’s why I like it so much.

But I think the reason why I like this movie so much is because Robin Hood himself is so cool!!!  His accent is very dreamy and I would ALMOST count him as a fictional character that I would date except for the fact that a.) he is animated and b.) he is not even a human, he is a fox (and not a FOX fox, but a literal fox).  So I am not quite that creepy.  But when he is captured and all tied up and says “Marian my darling, I love you more than life itself.”  Wow…….most male characters in Disney movies have no personality whatsoever, but wow.  Here’s the video of it.  It happens at 1:15, but stick around for the fight because I love how he takes on all the prince’s cronies without breaking a sweat.

I was watching this movie again last night and I realized for the first time just how weird it really is.  First of all, I am pretty sure that I didn’t understand ANYTHING that was happening when I was a kid.  The movie is about outlaws, and taxes, and English history……..um yeah, I didn’t get any of that.  Also, it is really one of the only Disney movies that I can think of where animals walk around dressed as humans (this happens in The Great Mouse Detective, but mostly just mice).  (Monica from Friends would really hate this movie!!)  They are all wearing clothes, but most of them are just wearing shirts and no pants.  hmmmmmmmm.  And not just one type of animal…….there are elephants, foxes, lions, snakes, chickens, turtles, alligators, and dogs all hanging out together.  This is one very strange movie.

But I love it!!!  I can’t imagine that any of you haven’t seen this yet, but if you haven’t I would highly recommend checking this out because it is funny, cute, and highly suspenseful (at the end, is he alive? is he dead?????).

Jen

P.S.  Here is a cool video that shows how much Disney recycled action to make the dance sequence.  Some of the people in the comments on YouTube are really mad about it, but I think it is interesting to see.

 

My REAL Favorite Movies #3

I am going through a phase now where I love all things British.  Actually…..it isn’t really a phase, because I’ve been obsessed with the UK ever since I went there eight years ago.  Well, if there is one thing the British know how to do, it is comedy.  Well, one of the funniest movies I have ever seen is Death at a Funeral.

It came out a few years ago, and I am really sad that I didn’t get to see it with a theater full of people, because that would have been an experience to remember.  I originally checked this out from the library because it has Mr. Darcy in it (Matthew MacFadyen not Colin Firth), and it was totally worth it.

Not only does it have the very gorgeous Mr. MacFadyen in it, but his real life wife, Keeley Hawes, plays his wife in the movie.  She is totally adorable and they are so cute together (she was also pregnant when they were filming so you’ll notice she hides behind a lot of pillows and is shot from the neck up).

Alan Tudyk is also in it for all of you Firefly fans out there.  He shows off his great British accent skills (which I first discovered when he was in A Knight’s Tale a million years ago) and walks around naked for most of the movie.  It also has the guy from Love Actually who goes to America and hooks up with all those Wisconsin girls.  He looks sooooo much cuter in this movie with his shaggy haircut.

Kris Marshall from Love Actually

This movie is so hilarious it is hard to describe.  I think one of the best parts about it is that everyone is so proper and British (and of course it does take place at a funeral) but there are so many outlandish things that happen.  There’s nudity, a bad drug trip, attempted murder, blackmail, and a very disgusting bodily function joke.

I think one of the reasons this movie is so hilarious is that it is directed by Frank Oz.  For those of you who don’t know, Frank Oz is also known as the voice behind Miss Piggy.  I can only imagine how much fun it must have been to be on that set.  There is an excellent gag reel at the end that shows just how fun it probably was.

I love this movie because it is nice and short so it is a good one to pop in if I am in need of a good laugh.  It also gives me my British fix for the day, which is much needed.  Here is the gag reel that I mentioned earlier.  It is funny how unprofessional and giggly the British actors are (I’m looking at YOU Matthew!!).  Oh, and it is not suitable for all audiences because British people like to curse (or maybe it’s actors).

Also, just on a side note, I ADORE the house that it is set in.  I’ve decided that when I make my millions being a children’s librarian I am going to live in a house just like it in the English countryside.

Jen

My REAL Favorite Movies #2

Every single week I clean my apartment.  I am actually becoming more and more anal about it as I get older.  While I clean, I always put in a movie as nice background noise.  One of my favorites to put in, but always a dangerous choice is Sky High.  It’s dangerous because I find myself stopping to watch certain parts and inevitably end up sitting through the whole last half not cleaning at all.

I am actually one of the few people who can admit to seeing Sky High in the theater.  I went with a friend to the Brickyard 400 a few years back and we stayed with her aunt and uncle.  We entertained her little cousin one day by taking her to town and going to the movies.  Sky High was the kid’s movie that sounded the least boring.  I was not excited because from the commercials on tv I thought it looked cheap (see: the costumes and cheesy special effects) and a total rip off of all the big superhero movies that had just come out.  Well, my friend’s cousin loved it, my friend hated it, but I secretly adored it!!!!

The story is about Will Stronghold, the son of the two greatest superheroes ever, going off to Sky High for his freshman year.  Will is played by Michael Angarano who is (or was, I can never keep up with these things) famous for being Kristen Stewart’s real life boyfriend, and being in the same movie as Lindsay and Amber: The Final Season.  The only problem is he doesn’t have any powers yet.

First of all, this movie is hilarious!!!!  The adult cast is pitch perfect.  Kurt Russell as Will’s dad is so great!  He is clueless and arrogant and kind of dumb and it is wonderful.  Dave Foley as Mr. Boy is soooooo funny, but Dave Foley is funny in everything he does.  But best of all is that Farva from SuperTroopers plays Ron Wilson, Bus Driver!!!  (By the way, did you know there is going to be a SuperTroopers 2!!!!!)

Those lucky sidekicks

I also love all the kids in the movie.  Zack who glows, Magenta who turns into a guinea pig, and Ethan who melts are all so cute!  But Layla is probably my favorite.  She gets to wear really cool clothes, her power is manipulating plants, and her mom can talk to animals!!!  I totally want to be Layla.  But if I could pick any power, I would probably want to have the ability to duplicate another person’s appearance and masquerade around as them.  Hmmmmm, who would I be……..?

Layla and her totally sweet Homecoming dress

The one thing I really love about this movie, and it is kind of silly, but I can’t help it, is that when Will gets his powers and is swept up in the popular crowd, he doesn’t become a jerk.  The standard formula in these movies is to have the main character get all popular, abandon their old friends and start to act like a total asshat (see: Mean Girls).  Will doesn’t do that, which is so refreshing.  He does get a little overwhelmed by everything, but he never acts like a jerk.

Mr. Warren Peace

I think that everyone should watch this movie because it is so fantastic!!!  If you like high school movies, superhero movies, or funny movies, this is something you will enjoy.  It also has the best character name ever: Warren Peace (who also happens to be really hot, and WELL over 18 so it’s okay).  Here are some of my favorite quotes from this awesome movie!

“There’s trouble downtown (duh duh DUH) Big. Trouble.”

“There is no smoking on school grounds…….or freezing or bursting into flame.”

“Sidekicks will please stop ordering hero sandwiches.”

“Way to go Popsicle.”

While watching a dummy get sliced up during the save the citizen game: “Do you remember when we used to use real citizens?”

“Oh. My. God.  I made out with an old lady.”

And then, probably one of my favorite last lines from any movie ever (a little spoiler-y, but if you don’t know what’s going to happen after the first 15 minutes then you haven’t been paying attention): “In the end, my girlfriend became my arch enemy, my arch enemy became my best friend, and my best friend became my girlfriend.  But hey, it’s high school.”  Truer words were never spoken.

Here’s the trailer:

Jen

My REAL Favorite Movies #1

Everybody has a list in their head of their favorite movies.  If someone were to ask me I would probably say The Lord of the Rings movies, the Harry Potter movies, Moulin Rouge, The Little Mermaid, Wall-E, My Man Godfrey, and A Little Princess.  But really, these are movies that I don’t watch all that often.  The Lord of the Rings movies are just too long and there are not enough tissues in the world for me to watch Wall-E on a regular basis.

But there are certain movies that I never seem to remember when thinking about my favorites, but they are ones I LOVE and watch all the time.  So for these blog posts I am going to talk about some of my secret favorite movies.  I will start off with one that I watch when I am in a weird mood and don’t know what I am in the mood for.  This movie is perfect because it literally has a little bit of everything.

Stardust is a totally awesome movie!!  I don’t think anybody ever saw it in the theater (including me) but my parents did and they made me sit down and watch it and I am SO glad they did.  Now as a little side note, I’ve read the Stardust graphic novel and was not a fan.  I did not enjoy the fact that the two characters that were supposed to be falling in love barely communicated and then were like, “oh, it’s the end?  maybe we should make out?”  That is only okay in Last of the Mohicans.

But I adore the movie!!!!  It is pretty complicated to describe, but I will try.  It has a very similar feel to The Princess Bride.  Tristan is a shopboy (oh, sorry, he is a boy who just happens to work in a shop) who is in love with Victoria.  He tries to win her love by promising to bring her a star that has fallen to the earth.  In order to get the star, Tristan must cross the Wall which is the boundary between regular old England and the magical world.  When Tristan finds the star he realizes that it is actually the beautiful Yvaine.  He decides to take her back to Victoria anyway, and along the way they encounter evil witches, pirates, and dead princes.

It is actually a pretty complicated movie with a lot of different things going on, so you have to pay attention while you are watching, but it is so good that why would you not be paying attention??!!  Here are my favorite things about this movie.

1.  Claire Danes was actually likable.  Ever since the “incident” a while back I can’t help but think of her as the wench who stole a pregnant woman’s boyfriend…..but I think she is adorable in this movie and I totally forget that I don’t like her as a person.

2.  It has all the things I love in a movie: romance, comedy, magical stuff, a hint of adventure, and a happy ending.

3.  It has Prince Caspian in it!!!! (Otherwise known as Ben Barnes)

4.  It also has some of my favorite British actors like Mark Heap, Rupert Everett, and David Walliams.  Also some random other celebrities like Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ricky Gervais.

5.  It has a great main character makeover!  I love me a good makeover, and this one is tricky because it is a boy.  Boy makeovers are hard to pull off, but Tristan truly goes from a dorky guy that you probably wouldn’t look twice at to a “Whoa, who is that gorgeous hunk of man???”

Dorky Tristan

Hunky Tristan

6.  I love the fact that Tristan gets all confident and awesome and has no problem facing down stuffy old Humphrey (Victoria’s other suitor) but that his hand still shakes when he is going off to fight the epic battle with the evil witch.  He is a rock star sword fighter, but still scared when the situation calls for it.

7.  The movie is awesome visually…..great costumes and a very gorgeous British countryside.

8.  The big bad guy (well one of them) Prince Septimus is really hot in a Snape-y kind of way.

The Evil Prince Septimus

9.  Also, the blooper reel is very very funny.

Here’s the trailer, which does a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the movie:

I would definitely recommend this movie for anyone who likes fantasy or a good love story.  I will probably have to buy a new copy pretty soon because mine is getting all worn out.  So that is just one of the many REAL favorite movies that I will be sharing in the future.  What are some of your REAL favorites?

Jen